据美国彭博新闻社9月11日阿布扎比报道，埃及石油部长塔里克·莫拉11日表示，埃及有望在今年年底前开始从以色列获得第一批天然气，完成一项150亿美元的协议将使这个北非国家成为欧洲的能源再出口中心。

莫拉在阿布扎比接受媒体记者采访时说，埃及最初每天将从以色列获得大约2亿标准立方英尺的天然气，最终天然气供应量将在2020年某个时候达到5亿标准立方英尺。

以色列德勒克钻井公司、美国诺布尔能源公司和埃及东方天然气公司去年签署了一项协议，收购埃及东地中海天然气公司管道的控股权。由于国内天然气短缺以及西奈半岛一段陆上管道不断遭到武装分子袭击，这条管道迄今已经闲置了大约六年。

自从两国签署一项改变40年前中东面貌的和平条约以来，这份天然气协议为以安全为主导的双边关系增加了一个经济层面。这份天然气协议还推进埃及利用其巨大的祖尔气田并向急需天然气的欧洲供应天然气的计划。

李峻 编译自 彭博新闻社

原文如下：

Egypt expects first Israeli gas by year-end, oil minister says

Egypt expects to begin receiving natural gas from Israel by the end of 2019, the oil minister said, fulfilling a $15 billion deal that will position the North African country as an energy re-export hub on Europe’s doorstep.

Egypt will initially receive about 200 million standard cubic feet per day of the gas, with supplies rising eventually to a daily 500 million sometime in 2020, the minister Tarek El-Molla said Tuesday in an interview in Abu Dhabi.

Israel’s Delek Drilling LP, Noble Energy and Egyptian East Gas Co. signed a deal last year to buy control of the East Mediterranean Gas Co. pipeline, which connects southern Israel to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and was initially built to export Egyptian gas to Israel. The link has been idle for about six years due to a domestic gas shortage and repeated militant attacks on an overland stretch of pipeline in the Sinai.

The gas agreement has added an economic dimension to a relationship dominated by security since the two countries signed a peace treaty that changed the face of the Middle East four decades ago. It also advances Egypt’s plan to capitalize on its own giant Zohr field and supply gas-hungry Europe.